Catsbroadwayfan said: "If an actor or actress are upset about 8 show weeks they shouldnt be doing theatre."
what if the producer is fine with two actors having a job share? You believe they shouldn’t do theatre because...why? You don’t like that they negotiated that? Not in terms of Frozen, but in terms if your blanket statement. There’s a lot of theatre besides broadway that don’t consistent of 8 show a week schedules with fantastic actors. Who don’t necessarily want to be on broadway or work in commercial theatre. Should these people “not be actors”? What standards are you operating off of? Commercial musical theatre is a small segment of our american theatre as a whole.
singer234 said: "There are a lot of people in the industry who are pushing the idea that the 8 show a week model is unsustainable and outdated, so it will be interesting to see 20-40 years from now how, if it all, performance schedules change."
Don't know how I feel about this. Most people, to survive and BARELY make enough money to scrap by, are pulling more than forty hour weeks.
Broadway performers are very well paid. Let's say that a Broadway performer, who is out of rehearsals and and no press appearances, spends 3.5 hours a day at the theatre. That's only 28 hours a week.... about the strain of a part time job.
Eight shows a week is fine, it's less than thirty hours a week at work. And don't come at me with "but performance is exhausting" because I know performers at Ellen's Stardust who are pulling 40+ hour weeks.
I believe with job shares, their salary would be pro rated. Again, it’s not common on Broadway, but there was a big case recently that made the news in London about this and I know it’s been presented as a possible way of allowing more mothers in the theatre to work and spend time with their family.
There wasn't ONE performance of Hedwig in the Broadway revival where the lead called out. John Cameron Mitchell tore his leg up in the role, was replaced by Michael C Hall for a week, and was back in the role for the rest of the run.
If six people can do Hedwig eight shows a week and not call out, I don't have much sympathy for someone playing a shared lead in a Disney show.
You dont have to be at the theatre every night till like 7. You have the entire day for family. Its your job to play dress up. If you cant do it 8 times a week cause you want to have family time, get a new job.
I think some of you may have to be careful what you wish for.
If the broadway show schedule actually decreases from 8 shows a week to less, then get prepared for ticket prices to go up. Again. Producers agree to put on shows based on a business case that tells them the show has the potential to make $xxxx based on tickets sold at a certain price for each performance, multiplied by how many performances there are in a certain amount of time.
If shows can’t afford to lose that gross potential from eliminating performances from their schedule, get ready to start paying even higher ticket prices just so the show can run.
I think it's terrible to start thinking that it's normal to expect understudies being on for leading roles. The attendance culture of some Broadway shows is shocking to me - the fact that every Mean Girls cast member except Kerry Butler had missed a show by the beginning of August, less than half a year into the run, shouldn't be a normal thing.
I cannot believe we're letting the two leads of Frozen on Broadway dictate the discussion of 8-show-weeks. They should just agree to an alternate schedule. I think everyone would be much happier.
Totally forgot to post this but congratulations and welcome to Ben Bogen who made his Broadway debut yesterday, October 23, in the ensemble of Frozen! Ben will in the company through December 16 and will also be covering Olaf and Weselton.
He may be filling in for Austin Lesch but I'm not 100% sure on that.
Also if anyone missed it, both Mattea Conforti and Ayla Schwartz will be playing their final performance on November 11, 2018.
Sondheimite said: "...I don't have much sympathy for someone playing a shared lead in a Disney show."
There it is, I wondered when the Disney dig would come in. As if being the lead of a Disney show is less demanding? Look, no matter what you think these two successful talented well-liked women should be doing, they get to do whatever their boss lets them do. None of my business, none of your business, or anyone else's for that matter. Also your 28 hour work week claim is ridiculous. They have to spend quite a bit of time warming up & cooling down, training with vocal coaches, exercising, attending marketing and media events, doing interviews on podcasts, engaging fans on social media, and a gazillion other things. They are doing a lot more than the 2 hours and 20 minutes on stage so that claim isn't fair.
Sondheimite, I think you made a lot of valid arguments, some of which I agreed with. However, you lost me with your last comment. You can say that you don't like the number of shows Patti is missing, but it's completely disrespectful to say she's not working as hard as others in her field. You've made it pretty clear you don't like the show, which is fine, but just because you don't like it does not mean the actors in the show don't work as hard as others on Broadway.
I hope we can soon return to a respectful discussion about the show in this thread.
Jenna Weir and Leila Rose Gross will be joining the show as Young Elsa and Young Anna, respectively, replacing Ayla Schwartz and Mattea Conforti! Both girls will be making their Broadway debut!
Not sure when their first show will be. Jenna’s past credits include the Matilda tour.
joined:8/31/08
joined:
8/31/08
Posted: 10/23/18 at 10:29pm